FROM PAGE TEN

“RECOVERY”

far behind events they cannot even present
an annual budget to the legislature in
advance of the fiscal year. This will be the
third year, since 1903, that a provincial
budget has not been delivered before the
previous budget year expired. The other two
occasions were 1978 and 1979. The Socred
approach to fiscal matters is a moneta-
rist mess. The Bennett government
supported federal high interest rates
when they were devised. It has fol-
lowed a policy of cutbacks, no matter
what the price in jobs, and high taxes,
no matter what the cost in inflation.

Obviously, the uncertain lurching of
government muddling can itself threaten
the province’s economy. Even the business
community has lost confidence in the
Socreds, as evidenced by recent demands for
a recovery program without tax increases.
Successful enterprises do not operate from
month to month or one year in isolation.
They plan their activities over a period of
years, in order to even out financial peaks
and valleys, enhancing stable, efficient
operation and capital investment. Besides
many firms, some state governments in the
USA use budget procedures suited to longer-
term cycles than just a twelve-month
calendar. It permits scheduling of public
projects during periods of economic slow-
downs, so they don’t conflict with periods of
private spending. It enables orderly reduc-
tion of taxes, if necessary, to stimulate
consumer spending and investment during
a slump. It permits a significant increase in
expenditures, to speed recovery, while
planning to balance expended reserves with
surpluses during high employment portions
of a cycle.

At the same time, it is necessary to retain
the present parliamentary accountability of
an annual budget speech, estimates debate
and public accounts scrutiny to which we
are accustomed. Yet it should be possible to
retain these traditional safeguards while
introducing acceptably flexible and modern
forward-planning business techniques.
That would permit gearing of public sector
fiscal measures — including crown corpo-
ratons, local governments, hospital boards
and so forth — to avoid repeating the
dislocating and reactive policies which have
worsened British Columbia’s current diffi-
culties. The NDP Members of the Legisla-
ture have always argued for democratic,
decentralized, economic planning, which
considered the public’s general interests
ahead of politicians’ partisan interests.

Accordingly, we should learn from the .

hard lessons of present government inadeq-
uacies and establish a blue-ribbon commit-
tee to examine existing public and private
sector techniques and to recommend a
method of modernising the provincial
budgeting and planning processes. The
object is to ensure that helpful, instead of
harmful, policies will be used to meet the
problems of the next cycle. Such a commit-
tee should include representatives from the
provincial government, crown corporations,
local government and other public bodies,
as well as appointments drawn from nomi-
nees of the business, labour and general
communities. We are all suffering from the
current mismanagement. It is time we
learned how to balance our economy better,
not just the political books.

Roosevelt’s most famous inaugural
speech identified the cause of the leadership
vacuum which preceded him. “They know
only the rules of a generation of self-
seekers,” he said. “They have no vision, and
when there is no vision, the people perish.

{ae

British Columbia is reeling from the
blunders of a coalition of self-seekers. It
needs, and demands, vigour and vision from
its legislature. There can be no excuses if
this session fails to give our people hope and
action.

Let’s get to work!

“POLITICAL WILL
TO CHANGE”

(By STU HAWKINS, IWA Member
Chemainus Sawmill)

As we enter the second quarter of 1982 we
find ourselves in the throes of a major
downturn in the economy. This penomenon
does not come about by accident. Itis caused
in my opinion by governments that are too
busy trying to keep themselves elected by
bowing to the wishes of big business, who
are their greatest source of campaign money
at election time.

Another reason in my opinion for the
situation woodworkers are in today is
mismanagement by our employers. Most of
the major forest companies have made poor
decisions and wasted hundreds of thou-
sands of dollars on things that don’t work!
They also pay their management people too
damn much! Case in point is Calvert Knud-
sen of MacMillan Bloedel who gets paid
$300,000.00 plus each year.

The third cause of our problems are the
banks. There seems to be no way to touch
these blood suckers who are gouging us of
our standard of living with their exorbitant
interest rates. And making it virtually
impossible for young people to buy a house.

The results of these three problems are the
things that woodworkers can relate to. We
live with the results every day now and there
are plant closures, layoffs and cut backs
posuleing in a lower standard of living for us
all.

Another problem is that Federally our
old-line political parties are being run by big
business that takes too much of the profit
that comes from natural resource industries
out of the country and invest elsewhere. The
large percentage of this profit should be
invested in Canada to create jobs for
Canadians.

If this isn’t bad enough the governmentin
power provides loopholes in the tax system
for businesses to evade paying their fair
share of taxes. Most people in the woodwork-
ing industry pay 30%+ — taxes. If industry
in this country paid the taxes it should pay
there would be lots of money for the social
services such as a half decent pension for
the elderly and pensions for people that
have been injured on their jobs and can no
longer support themselves.

As you read this article you should start to
become aware that the governments in
power in this country are screwing you and
it doesn’t even feel good.

The thing that makes this such an unbear-
able situation is that working people put
these parasites in power. Once elected they
serve the monied class and big business, not
the people who put them there.

It should be evident to you all by now that
big business does everything possible to
make sure that the political party or parties
that are going to be in their best interest get
elected to power. If you doubt this then look
at the television at election time. Air time is
not cheap but it doesn’t matter when some-
one else is footing the bill (namely big
business). You hear so much propaganda
day after day that people begin to get
brainwashed by it all.

I think it is time that working people, and
people in general elected a party that is
going to help them for a change and not the
fat cats.

I go to union meetings and I hear people
say, the unions should not get mixed up with
politics. It is my feeling that people have sat
on their rear ends and been uncommitted
long enough. If people want social change
they have to get out and work like hell to get
the party elected that will represent us, our
neighbours, small business men, people on
welfare and people across the whole spec-
trum of society.

The people’s party is not afforded the
luxury of being supported by people with
lots of money. There is one thing that it does
have though that is hand, feet and mouths,
the necessary things to communicate with
others and pass the word.

If people have the political will to change
things it will happen.

[WA FIGHTING
U.S. TARIFFS

On March 8rd and 4th, 1982, hearings
were held by the U.S. International Trade
Commission on the question of placing
tariffs on Canadian lumber imports. Testim-
ony in support of imposing such tariffs was
presented by independent U.S. manufactur-
ers and by a large trade union which
represents woodworkers in the U.S. Pacific
Northwest. Prior to the hearings, Denny
Scott, Doug Smyth and Phillip Legg of the
IWA Research Department presented to the
Trade Commission detailed technical sub-
missions which refuted those arguments. A
summary of the technical submissions was
made to the Commission by IWA Interna-
tional President Keith Johnson.

Approximately two-thirds of all lumber
produced in British Columbia is sold in the
Untied States. Any move by the US.
government to impose tariffs on Canadian
lumber imports would be completely disas-
trous for the B.C. industry. During the past
few months, layoffs have been running
between one-fourth and one-third of IWA
members. The imposition of tariffs on B.C.
lumber would greatly increase those
numbers, even during good market
conditions.

The root cause of high unemployment in
the U.S. wood products industry is high
interest raters and the resulting depression
in home construction — not excessive
shipments of Canadian lumber into the U.S.

The Reagan Administration, in refusing
to recognize the housing depression, has
caused massive layoffs in both the U.S. and
Canada. Woodworkers in both countries are
suffering from these disastrous policies and
blaming Canadian lumber imports won’t
help anyone. Furthermore, many U.S.
lumbermen have speculated and gambled
by overbidding in public timber sales and
are now caught with over-priced timber.
Tariffs on Canadian lumber won’t solve
those problems. Only basic reforms in the
bidding system will bring timber prices into
line with lumber prices. And finally, the
Canadian dollar, which stands at 83 cents
in U.S. currency, provides the only real
advantage held by Canadian lumber expor-
ters today. This will be corrected only when
anverest rates in both countries are brought

lown.

These remarks were made by Keith John-
son, President of the IWA, before the Inter-
national Trade Commission in Portland on
March 4th.

The ITC is investigating a charge that
Canadian producers are competing unfairly
with Pacific Northwest lumbermen and
undercutting U.S. lumber prices. The inves-

SEE “TARIFFS” PAGE TWELVE

Lumber Worker/April, 1982/11